GOP debate updates: TV ratings plummet as Haley addresses ‘scum’ spat

Five candidates faced off in the NBC News-hosted event in Miami, Florida

Haley calls Ramaswamy ‘scum’ for referencing her daughter during debate

The third Republican primary debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, featured a number of contentious exchanges over candidates’ policies and records with even the moderators and RNC chair Ronna McDaniel coming under fire early on.

Five candidates qualified for the showdown, broadcast by NBC News – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur and woke-bashing author Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Former President Donald Trump also qualified but did not attend, instead speaking at a rally in nearby Hialeah, Florida.

There were a number of fiery tussles throughout the evening including when Mr Ramaswamy was booed by the crowd for an attack on Ms Haley’s daughter with the former UN ambassador calling him “scum” in response — many agreed with her assessment.

Despite the fireworks, TV ratings slumped to the lowest yet in the 2024 cycle, with just 7.51 million viewers tuning in, according to NBC News.

The next debate is set for 6 December in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and will be hosted by NewsNation.

Key points

• Who won the third Republican debate?
• Vivek Ramaswamy launches unhinged debate rant blasting GOP ‘losers’
• Trump slams ‘weak and ineffective’ rivals at rally during GOP debate
• Ronna McDaniel hits back after debate attack by Ramaswamy
• Dan Crenshaw weighs in on Haley v ‘con artist’ Ramaswamy
• Haley tells Fox News she showed ‘a lot of restraint’ in only calling Ramaswamy ‘scum’

[11 November 2023 06:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Ramaswamy walks back moment he appears to call Zelensky ‘Nazi’

Businessman and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on Wednesday to call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, a “Nazi” during the latest GOP presidential debate.

During a line of comments in which the Republican argued Ukraine is anti-democratic and undeserving of US aid, Mr Ramaswamy claimed, “It has celebrated a Nazi in its ranks – the comedian in cargo pants, a man called Zelensky – doing it in their own ranks. That is not democratic.”

However, the entrepreneur’s campaign later walked back his comments – insisting that he was not calling Mr Zelensky a Nazi but that he stumbled over his words when he tried to comment about someone else.

[11 November 2023 04:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Ronna McDaniel hits back at Ramaswamy after debate attack

Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel clapped back at Vivek Ramaswamy after he argued that the GOP has done nothing but lose since she took over the party.

“He’s at four per cent. He needs a headline,” Ms McDaniel said on Fox Business Network. She argued that the biotech entrepreneur is “kind of new to the party. He voted for Obama”.

Mr Ramaswamy has said that he didn’t vote in either election that President Barack Obama was on the ballot, according to Reuters.

He voted for the Libertarian Party in 2004, but didn’t vote in 2008, 2012, or 2016, the news agency noted. In 2020, he voted for then-President Donald Trump.

During the third primary debate on Wednesday, Mr Ramaswamy argued that since Ms McDaniel became the chair of the RNC in 2017, the GOP has become the “party of losers”.

Read the full article...

[11 November 2023 03:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

‘He went too far’: Ramaswamy slammed for bringing up Haley’s daughter in GOP debate

Vivek Ramaswamy has been slammed by social media users for “going to far” after he brought up Nikki Haley‘s daughter during the third GOP debate on Wednesday night.

In a heated moment – that culminated in Ms Haley branding him “scum” and refusing to shake his hand at the end of the debate – the far-right candidate singled out his Republican presidential rival’s child on stage.

[11 November 2023 02:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Did Tim Scott ‘soft launch’ new girlfriend Mindy Noce at the GOP debate?

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott appeared to “soft launch” his girlfriend at the Republican debate in Miami.

Mr Scott, whose bachelor status has regularly been reported on during the campaign, brought Mindy Noce, an interior designer and a mother of three from Charleston, up on stage after the debate to pose for a photo.

Initially, it was unclear who Ms Noce was as she stood next to Mr Scott, but her appearance sparked online speculation that she could be his often-mentioned but never-before-seen partner.

Mr Scott, 58, told the press after the debate that they have been dating for “about a year”.

[11 November 2023 01:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

DeSantis’s tongue is getting a lot of attention...

...no, really.

[11 November 2023 00:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Ramaswamy’s dream debate moderators: Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan

“Think about who is moderating this debate. This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk,” Mr Ramaswamy said. “We’d have 10 times the viewership, asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about and bring more people into our party.”

The 2024 candidate claimed Democrats would not allow a conservative news anchor or media personality to host their debates.

Mr Ramaswamy then attacked Ms Welker, an NBC News anchor, accusing her of being part of the “corrupt media establishment.”

[10 November 2023 23:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

Ari Melber: Republicans ‘high on their own supply’ of election lies

MSNBC host Ari Melber quoted the movie Scarface and said that Republicans had bought into too many of their own lies about the 2020 presidential election.

Melber spoke on Thursday evening about how Republicans faced massive electoral defeats in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia and noted how the Republican Party is now in thrall to the wing that supports former president Donald Trump and his lies about the 2020 election.

“The fact that the Trump wing of the party embraced denialism has hurt the party’s ability to get anywhere near competitive,” he said. “If you’re watching this and want a healthy democracy, that’s a bad thing. If you’re watching and want Republicans to keep losing elections you’re hoping they keep making this mistake.”

Melber then played a clip from the movie Scarface wherein Elvira Hancock, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, said “Lesson two, don’t get high on your own supply.”

Eric Garcia reports.

[10 November 2023 23:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Analysis: American voters just sent a clear message on abortion. The impact could be global

Maya Oppenheimer writes:

The world was left reeling last June when millions of women across America lost their legal right to an abortion.

And since that fateful day that the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade – the landmark decision that legalised abortion nationwide in 1973 – the landscape for reproductive rights has changed beyond recognition.

Some 21 states have either enacted abortion bans or restrictions earlier in pregnancy than the benchmark that Roe established – many of them also barring exceptions in the case of rape or incest.

As a result, tens of thousands of women are estimated to have been forced to endure the rigmarole of travelling to a different state to access an abortion.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, campaigners have voiced fears that the war being waged on reproductive rights in America has also emboldened anti-abortion activists in the UK. In the immediate aftermath of the US Supreme Court decision, campaigners and academics told The Independent that US funding received by UK anti-abortion groups was likely to “ramp up” in light of Roe’s dismantling.

But in the US, pro-choice lawyers, campaigners and politicians have fervently and ferociously fought abortion bans.

And, on Tuesday night, they secured a major win for anyone who believes women and people with wombs should have the right to choose.

Read the full article...

[10 November 2023 22:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

GOP debate: Where do the candidates stand on abortion rights?

The issue of abortion rights in the United States is staring the 2024 GOP presidential candidates in their eyes as they prepare to kick their campaigns into high gear.

Since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark case Roe v Wade (1973) last summer, abortion has become a top concern for many voters.

Though the anti-abortion stance has long been associated with the Republican Party, approximately 61 per cent of adults in the US believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to Pew Research Center – that statistic includes Republican and Democratic voters.

As Americans look toward their next Republican presidential nominee, no doubt many will be considering where the candidate stands on abortion when determining who they support.

Here is what each GOP presidential candidate has said on the issue.

[10 November 2023 22:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

GOP debate: Support for Israel but not necessarily Ukraine

Shortly before the candidates took the stage for the third Republican primary debate in Miami on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that US fighter jets struck a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, the latest sign of the tense security situation in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Once the spotlights came on, the GOP candidates called for a further ratcheting up of military operations, urging Israel to annihilate Hamas and the US military to directly attack Iran.

Responding to a question about what advice she would give to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had two words: “Finish them.”